No, I wasn't. I own both Macs and PCs, but only Mac laptops.
The OS I've found if far superior on the Mac. The OS never seems to
crash, only the machine crashes. Meaning it's not an OS problem. It's
only happened a couple of times. Lately with my logic board going out
after 4+ years on a refurb iMac I bought.
As for the software you use, it sounds like you're a math person. My
best friend is a professor at Gonzaga University. He Uses Macs at
home and just recently bought a new one for school. He's a PHD in
mathematics and uses both Maple and Mathematica on his Macs. He
probably also uses other things I have no clue about.
My friend is a bit over the top when it comes to perfection. I
helped him remodel his kitchen and he insisted on a Sub Zero fridge
and Wolf oven/stove. The flooring we put in was half sawn oak in 1
1/2" strips.
On another not about my friend. He just got his new Mac both at home
and and school. He's rather cheap and his Macbook Pro from about 10
years ago was working fine. But after the school paid for his new Mac
at school he had to buy one for himself.
I'd say, if your company is paying for it, go with what they offer.
If not, go with what you want and hope to continue to use for the
next 5 or 10 years. If it's the later case, it's your money.
Jeff M
On May 28, 2009, at 6:13 PM, Robert Carroll wrote:
I take it that you are voting for my buying a PC laptop.
Why, you ask? Many reasons, here's a few why.
The reason for considering buying a Mac is the high regard that
members of this listserv hold for the Mac. It seems that the OS is
claimed here to be superior to that of a PC, as well as the Mac
hardware.
For the software:
My work gives me free software for PC, none for Mac. If I buy the
software for Mac, I must pay for it myself.
Example (one of many): Matlab, with 13 toolboxes. Unfortunately,
the Matlab web site doesn't list prices, but I estimate that the
packages would cost around $1,000 to $2,000.
There are quite a few other mathematical or scientific packages
that are free to me for PC but for which I would have to pay for
myself to get the Mac version.
There are a number of other, more mundane, reasons: for example,
just this week I upgraded to a version of a music notation program
that is available only for PC. What music notation program is
available for a Mac, and how much will I have to pay? It is the
cost of switching many professional-quality programs to a Mac
version that is a reason to avoid the Mac if it can't execute PC
programs satisfactorily.
Thus, my question: can a Mac run PC programs well enough to make a
Mac laptop a desirable choice, or is there no reason to prefer a
Mac laptop over a PC laptop?
Please note that I am not a PC or Mac partisan. I've never owned a
laptop nor a Mac, so I have no opinion at all about the differences
between the PC and the Mac until I have tried both at some length.
Jeff Miles wrote:
On May 28, 2009, at 5:03 PM, Robert Carroll wrote:
I'm considering buying a laptop. All my programs for my desktop
are for PC, and these I will most likely use on a laptop.
My question is: is it better to buy a PC to run PC programs, or a
Mac to run PC programs?
Please don't tell me that I can get as good as or better results
using programs for Mac. Except for the odd example, running Mac
programs is not going to happen with me.
Then why are you even bothering asking the question? If you're
dead set against running any Mac programs why would you even
consider buying one?
Jeff M
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